The Sebetedan Project
by hydrarianbeast
Summary: A smeargle awakes to find he has been transformed into a pokemorph. He, along with some other rebels, must escape their prison and find out what the people who created them are planning.
1. Chapter 1

"Another subject a success, sir."

I heard these words, but they were muffled. Where was I? Why were my eyes closed? Should I open them?

"Good. This is becoming quite easy. They will all be crucial for most of the operation." What operation? Who are they?

I forced my eyes open. I saw a bunch of humans through a green glass. Why was I in hear? Did I do something wrong? I'm a smeargle. There isn't much I can do wrong.

I tried to stand up, but failed. Something was wrong. My body wasn't the same. I look down, and almost fall back into unconsciousness.

I was still mostly smeargle, but I was now also part human. It was more like I was a smeargle with the skeleton of a human. My hands had five fingers, which felt very odd and uncomfortable. My feet were longer, which made standing close to impossible. My joints were much more defined, making my movements feel wrong.

What was going on? I remembered being bought from my original trainer for something, but everything after that was a blank.

One of the people gasped. "Look! It's awake!"

The one who seemed to be in charge pushed him towards me. "Well, don't just stand there! Let it out! Our early experiments died due to suffocation in there!"

He climbed up a small stepladder and twisted the top off of the glass tube I was currently in. He looked down at me. "Can you stand up?"

I scowled at him and pointed at my feet. He seemed to get the idea. "Sir, it isn't used to its new body yet. It is unable to stand." I scowled some more. I am not an it.

The man sighed. "Well, we still need him out of the tube. Tip it over." My eyes widened. What? Tip me over?

I felt the tube tilt, and I quickly pushed myself against the side of the tube. I managed to keep myself from tipping over.

The man let out a huff of frustration. "Well, if it wants to be stubborn, than it can stay in there until it can stand." He motioned to all of the people, and they all left.

I picked up my tail and stared at it. I loved my tail. Most smeargle have green or red tails. Sure, you get some with other colors, but mine was special. I could change the color of my tail at will. I wonder if I still could.

It was currently red at the moment. I concentrated, and it slowly turned from red to light blue. I smiled. At least I could still do that.

I started trying to use my new body. I first figured out all the muscles I could use. Then I figured out how all of my joints worked. When I felt somewhat confident, I tried to stand. It was done quite ungracefully, but I managed to get myself into a technically upright position.

I leaned against the tube for a while, then was able to stand on my own. I was starting to have some fun. I hopped up and down. I could tell I had kept my nimble pokemon movements. I thought about jumping out of the tube, when more people walked in.

"Ah, so you managed to stand," one of them, a woman, said. She had soft brown eyes and flowing blonde hair. "We thought we were going to have to pull you out with some rope or something." She climbed the small stepladder and looked down at me. "We saw you jumping. Can you jump out?"

I leapt up as high as I could and grabbed the side of the tube. I then unfortunately learned how hard it was to use five fingers and how slippery the glass was. I fell down.

She laughed. "That's a no." She held out her hand. "Here, I'll pull you up."

I jumped again and grabbed her hand. Her hand folded around mine and she pulled me up. I then unceremoniously fell to the ground outside of the tube.

She hopped down and helped me up. "Now, why don't we move you to your room?" She guided me out of the room we were currently in, through a labyrinth of hallways, and into another room. This one was suited for living. It had a bed, a window, a bathroom, a closet. Why were they putting me here?

"Now," said the woman, "I have other things to attend to. You just sit tight in here until someone comes to get you." She gave me one last smile, and left.

I started to search the room, starting with the closet. There was an array of cloths inside it. Was I supposed to put them on? Pokemon never wore cloths. Then again, am I still a pokemon?

I flicked through the cloths and pulled out what I believed to be an ordinary human outfit. I had on a brown t-shirt and some jeans. There was even a hole in them meant for my tail. All in all, it wasn't that uncomfortable.

I sat down on the bed and looked out the window. It was a peaceful piece of mountain scenery.

There was a knock on my door. I didn't know how to signal that they should come in. Luckily, the person just walked in.

No, not person. It was another pokemon person.

It was obviously a Parasect. He wore a red lab coat, and had on huge pearly white circular spectacles. His fingers were pointed, and he kept touching his first finger with his second, which made them look like pincers snapping. There was a large mushroom atop his head.

"Greetings," He said, straightening his spectacles. "Your name is?"

I glared at him. I didn't know how to talk. I hadn't even tried to use my vocal cords yet. This man seemed to think that I could, but was just being stubborn. He walked up and grabbed my face with those creepy fingers. I did the natural thing, I swung my tail around and hit him aside the head.

He staggered back, and scowled at me. "You wish to be difficult?" Sticky silk shot from his fingers and wrapped around my hands and feet. This wasn't right. Paras nor Parasect could learn string shot.

He pulled me to him, where his hands clamped down on my arms. This was vicegrip. How did he know these moves? "I am willing to give you another chance. If you continue to be difficult, I know just what to do with you." I scowled, and my tail flicked in his direction, sending blue paint flying onto his glasses. He staggered backwards, releasing me. He then clicked his tongue, and faced me. I could've been wrong, but I was pretty sure he was using echolocation to identify where I was. "Fine then, I will send you with the other misfits. If you're still alive in three days, we might talk again."


	2. Chapter 2

The chair I was sitting in was dropped back into the water, and I felt the electricity serge through me. This couldn't be legal. I had been through this torture long enough for me to lose all sense of self. I was almost ready to submit to them.

Almost.

I was pulled out of the water, and the parasect man, who I had learned was known as Jared, was smiling at me. "I think that's enough for today. I'll send you to the other misfits. If you talk next time we meet, then we won't have to do this again." He nodded at the two other men in the room, who untied me from the chair and dragged me out of the room. I tried to stay conscious, but I blacked out.

I was starting to come back to consciousness when I felt a sharp pain on the side of my face. I sat up abruptly, where I was greeted by the smiling face of a girl.

She was really cute. She wore a pink shirt and a white miniskirt. Her eyes were a very pretty shade of blue. Her hair was strawberry blond and her bangs curled and hung above her forehead. The only thing that indicated that she was part pokemon was the two pink ears coming out of the top of her head.

"I'm Delilah," she said. "What's your name?"

I didn't answer, I still wasn't sure if I could speak yet. Delilah seemed to notice. "You don't know if you can use your vocal cords yet, right?" She stood up. "Here, sing the same note I do, but in whatever octave you are most comfortable with." She opened her mouth, and a beautiful note came out.

I started to hum the note at first, then I opened my mouth and sang the note as well. I held it as long as I could, then drew in a deep breath, stopping. Delilah stopped singing as well. She had held that note for what I believed to be three minutes straight.

"Y-you are part jigglypuff," I said thickly.

She nodded. "Yep, though I am different from you. You are a pokemon injected with human DNA. I am a human with pokemon DNA. Different process, same results."

There was the sound of a door opening, and I turned to see another pokemon human walk in carrying a tray with what looked like a tea set. I guessed he was part roserade. He looked like a butler going to a ball. He wore a light green shirt, with a dark green tailcoat. He wore a green mask over his eyes, and a green cape flowed down his back. His hands were covered in pure white gloves. His white hair stood up on his head exactly like a roserade's.

"Good evening, sir," He said. "We are glad to see you finally awake." He set the tray down on a table on the other side of the room and started to poor the tea. "I have prepared for you some Darjeeling to help bring you back to full alertness and have some crumpets, scones, and bagels being cooked if you want something to eat." He handed me a cup, and one to Delilah. He then walked back out the door to attend to his food.

Delilah smiled. "That was Zack. He, as you probably guessed, is part roserade. He takes it upon himself to make our miserable lives a bit more comfortable by acting as our butler. He's quite good at it."

I took a sip of the tea, and immediately felt my senses sharpen. The tea tasted wonderful.

Delilah sipped her tea as well. "So," she said, "You never answered me. What is your name?"

I shrugged. "Don't really have one. I was just known as smeargle."

She thought for a moment. "Well, no one here uses the name of a pokemon. You need a real name. What do you want it to be?"

I pondered this. "Painter."

She raised an eyebrow. "Painter? Really?"

I nodded, "Yes, Painter. It's a legitimate name, and is the one I want."

She sighed. "Well, Painter it is then."

She sat down next to me and took a long sip of tea. "So, Painter, do you have any questions you want answered?"

I nodded. "First off, what are we?"

She smiled. "Well, as you probably figured, we are part pokemon and part human. Our unofficial title is pokemorphs."

I nodded. "Okay. Now, what's up with Jared?"

She scowled. "He's a special case. He was a human infused with the DNA of a Parasect, but he didn't grow the large mushroom that they have on their back. That is what truly makes a parasect what it is. So they ripped one off the back of a Parasect, turned it into a hat, and plopped it on his head. Now he's their most loyal minion."

"Who exactly are 'they'?"

"They are a group of people who are fired members of different evil organizations. Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, there are some of all of them in this group. We don't know what their plan is at the moment."

"Who is this group that you are a part of?"

"I, along with you and Zack, are part of the group of failures and rebels of the pokemorphs. I don't know any other moves besides sing and wake-up slap. Derek, a flareon pokemorph, once tried to burn down the lab. So they stick us down here and put us through harsh training and torture."

I nodded, starting to understand the situation. Zack walked back in, his tray now loaded with different pastries. I took a bagel and the other two both took a crumpet.

"They were talking about how I was another success. Where there any pokemorphs that didn't survive?"

I instantly knew I touched a sore subject. They both looked at each other. Delilah had tears in her eyes. "Lucas."

Zack nodded. "Lucas was a young boy who was injected with the DNA of a cubchoo. Everything was okay for a while." He swallowed. "Then his ice type started to clash with his human DNA. Human bodies need to stay around ninety-seven degrees. But he was also part ice type. Not to mention the fact that his running nose gave him a cold, which was making his body temperature raise even more."

"He shattered," Delilah mumbled.

Zack swallowed again. "The clash of body temperatures was too great. He shattered, just like a cup filled with boiling then ice water."

I turned away, tears in of sadness and disgust forming in my eyes. Being a smeargle, I had a very vivid imagination. I could just see the small boy, fighting to stay alive, Zack bringing him medicine, Delilah singing him lullabies, and then the form of his broken body lying dead on the ground, probably with a final smile on his lips, happy that he could be with his friends when he died.

Why would anyone want to do that to a little boy? It was revolting. It was wrong.

"What about the other pokemorphs here?" I asked. "Are there more of them that are willing to help these people?"

Zack nodded. "Most of them are willing to help. We, as Delilah probably told you, are the useless and the rebels."

I finished my tea. "Now, going to a more important matter; how are we going to escape?"

The both looked at me in surprise. "What?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to just sit here and go through their torture. We are pokemorphs. They are humans. We have, no matter how small, an advantage. How are we going to use this advantage?"

"I like your way of thinking."

We all turned to the door, where another pokemorph had walked in. His red ears were long and pointed. His blonde hair laid flat on his head, except for a large swirling crest on top of his forehead. He wore a red shirt and jeans, which had a hole in them for his extremely long and puffy tail. He must be the flareon pokemorph.

"I'm Derek," he said. "I think I might know how we can escape. You can use sketch, right?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Let me get this straight. You want me to fight their garchomp?" I asked.

Derek nodded. "Yes. It will use draco meteor right of the bat. You use sketch, copy that, and then the plan goes on."

I sighed. "Fine. Let's get this over with." I walked into the training room, ready to start our outrageous plan. The training room is just one large metal room in which there are cages for pokemon. You select what pokemon you want to fight, they release it, and you battle.

I walked up to the pokemon selector. It was just a basic computer in which you pick which pokemon you want to fight. Scrolling down, I selected the mach pokemon. I heard its cage open, and turned to face it. These pokemon were untrained. They were ruthless and, well, evil. They only think of one thing: how to kill the person their fighting.

It roared at me, and I swallowed. I was actually quite scared of dragon pokemon. My old trainer had me fight a dragonite, and it had nearly eaten me. Now, even the sight of a dragon pokemon was enough to make me want to faint.

Just as Derek said, it shot a glowing orb of orange light into the air. This was it. I stood up on my hands and pointed my tail straight up. It started to glow white.

The orb exploded, and smaller spheres started to rain down. I stayed there, not moving a muscle, even when a couple of them hit me. When the attack was finally over, I went back to my feet. I could now use draco meteor.

That was when the other three jumped out. Zack, his gloves off, was shooting green orbs of energy at it. His fingernails were red on his right hand, blue on his left. Delilah was jumping up and smacking it across the face, and Derek was sending beams of fire flying at it. It was only a matter of minutes before it went down.

"Good," Derek said. "Let's roll." We all ran out of the room, and instead of going back to our small prison, we went to the large metal door that sealed us off from the rest of the lab.

I held my hands out, where an orange sphere appeared. Derek and Zack held their hands out as well. A green orb appeared in front of Zack, and fire started to appear in front of Derek. We let our attacks loose at the door. My attack hit the door and exploded into the smaller spheres, which hit the hinges of the door. Derek's attack expanded out into five points, where it hit the door and hung there. The door started to glow red from the heat.

Zack let his attack loose his orb, and it hit Derek's square in the center. The door exploded. We were able to escape.

An alarm started to sound. "Run!" Derek yelled. We all took off down the hall. We wove in and out of hallways, seeing guards chasing us and going to get reinforcements. We needed to find an exit fast.

We turned a corner, and found a window. At last, we could escape.

That's when Jared appeared.

He came around the corner by the window and smiled at us. "Good evening. I must admit, this escape plan of yours was quite impressive. Unfortunately, now it comes to an end."

Derek growled and shot fire at the evil creature. Derek didn't even try to move. "Now, now, there's no need for violence."

A large jet of water intercepted Derek's attack, and it disappeared. We all stared as a new pokemorph appeared.

It was a woman with long crimson red hair that seemed to split at the top of her head and fall down opposite sides of her back. She had red eyes topped with thin crimson eyebrows. She held a fan that seemed to be made of scales from a milotic tail. She wore a sparkling cream shirt and designer jeans.

She was a milotic pokemorph.

She fanned herself and sighed. "My, my, what a hot night it is. Why would you do this to poor Alice? I was sitting in my room, applying my bedtime makeup, and then the alarm goes off. What could that be, I wondered. Then Jared shows up and tells me that rebels have escaped. Alice doesn't approve of this escape attempt. Now, why don't we throw you back into the pit you crawled out of?"

Delilah smiled evilly. "Why, if it isn't Airhead Alice. You look smarter than last time we met. Did you finally reach one I.Q. point?"

Alice blushed. "Yes, if it isn't Dopey Delilah. Still can't do more than sing and slap, can you? At least I can learn more than two moves."

Now it was Delilah's turn to blush. "At least I have natural beauty. You wear more makeup than all of Johto."

Alice smiled. "Let us stop this silliness." She moved away from the window. "If you wish to leave, by all means, do so. Unfortunately, I have recently filled the gorge with water. I just love a beautiful lake. Don't you, Derek?"

Derek ground his teeth together. His face had paled.

"What's wrong?" I whispered to Delilah.

"Derek was originally a flareon. He absolutely hates water." I still didn't get it. Delilah sighed. "He can't swim."

Alice laughed. "Facing a dilemma, aren't you? I suggest you hurry. The guards will be here in about a minute."

I leaned over to Derek and whispered in his ear. "Are you able to float?"

He shook his head. "I sink like a rock."

I thought about it. Then it hit me. "I've got it. Get ready to run towards the window." He nodded.

Alice fanned herself some more. "Tick-tock, you four. Only thirty seconds left."

I looked at the others. They nodded. We all took off towards the window. Alice and Derek stepped in front of it, but I sent a draco meteor at them. They jumped way, and it broke the window.

"Delilah," I called, "grab hold of Derek." She grabbed his arm, and we all jumped out of the window.

Out the window, it was a straight drop down into a lake. I hoped this worked. I sent another draco meteor straight down at the surface of it. It sunk without exploding.

We all landed in the lake. Delilah was struggling to keep Derek up. "What now, genius?" She yelled at me.

I waded in the water. "Just wait a second." Come on, my plan had to work.

Then, I felt a shock go through the water. My attack finally exploded, and the water erupted under us. We were shot into the air and towards dry land. Unfortunately, I didn't really come up with a way to land.

We all flew, screaming like crazy, into a bunch of trees. We all tumbled through them, and landed ungracefully onto the ground.

I stood up. "Well, I guess that kind of worked."

Derek was on his knees coughing up water. "Yes, an amazing idea," he said sarcastically.

Delilah stood up as well. "Well, at least we made it out."

Zack helped Derek to his feet. "We cannot stay here. We must get away from the lab tonight."

We all nodded, and started off into the forest. It was slow going, due to Derek having to throw up about every five minutes, but we eventually made it out of the woods. We faced a large range of mountains. Great, now we get to go rock climbing.

"Looks like you four could use a lift."

We looked up to see two dragonites, a charizard, and a flygon decend. The charizard stepped forward. "You all are quite the sight. What exactly are you?"

We looked at each other. "We're experiments from the nearby lab," Derek said. He then ran back to the forest to hurl some more.

The flygon looked at us sympathetically. "I remember flying by that lab and saw some of their experiments. It was awful."

Delilah nodded. "It is awful. Do you guys think you could give us a lift over the mountains?"

The first dragonite nodded. "Sure. There's a town just beyond here. We were going by there anyway. Hop on and enjoy the ride!"

We all thanked them and climbed onto their backs.

"Now, if you are going to throw up again, make sure you warn me first so I can lean sideways a bit," The flygon said as Derek climbed unsteadily onto it.

Once we were all mounted, the pokemon took off. I was on the back of the charizard. I didn't even have to hold on. All I had to do was stay right between his wings.

"You can go ahead and rest," he said to me. I nodded, leaned against his back, and was out in a matter of minutes.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up on the cold floor of a cave. I sat up and looked around. Everyone was here, but why where we in a cave and not flying out of the mountains?

"Why are we here?" I asked Delilah, walking up to her.

"There's something wrong with Derek." She walked me over to where he was laying. He was covered with sweat, even though it was very cold in the cave. His face was extremely pale.

"What's wrong with him?"

"We don't know. But we do know that it is starting to become critical. We need to heal him, fast.

I thought for a moment. "Where's charizard and his friends?"

"They are standing outside keeping watch. Why?"

I ran over to them. "Charizard. What mountain range is this?"

He turned to me. "It doesn't have a name. It isn't even locatable on any maps."

I nodded. "Perfect. This just might be the right place."

He looked at me quizzically. "The right place for what?"

I looked out at the other mountains. "I remember hearing something about Mew living in a mountain range that couldn't be found. This just might be it. If anyone could heal Derek, Mew could."

He nodded. "So I'm guessing you want me to help you look for him?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Do you expect me to scale the mountains by myself?"

"Fair point. Hop on."

I climbed onto his back and we took off. "So where do you suggest we look first?" He asked.

I looked around. "I would start with the glowing light." I pointed at one of the caves, in which a small red glow was visible.

Charizard redirected our course towards that cave. As we got closer, the light went out.

Just as we were about to land, I felt an invisible force throw me off Charizard's back. I fell towards the mountain, where I was pulled to the entrance of a cave and dumped onto the ground.

I stood up, but was thrown to the side again. I could tell someone was using psychic on me, but I couldn't see who.

The attack lifted me off of my feet and up into the air. I felt the air around my neck tighten. Whoever was doing this was trying to choke me. I didn't know what to do.

I saw a form start to move out from the shadows of the cave. "So, are you here to capture me?"

I shook my head. "Friend…sick…need…help."

The creature chuckled. "What a lie. I know Giovanni sent you."

"Wait," came a higher pitched voice. "Maybe he isn't lying. Put him down."

The force around my neck disappeared, and I fell back onto the floor. A gray figure walked out of the shadows.

"Mewtwo? I thought you were currently in a large city. What are you doing here?"

He sighed. "What, I can't visit a friend? I came for a change in scenery and to see Mew."

Mew, who had been floating in the back of the cave, came forward. "You said that you had a friend who's sick. What's wrong with him?"

I stood up, taking in deep breaths of air. "We don't know. We escaped from a lab, but we fell into a lake and he couldn't swim. He then spent about the next hour throwing up every five minutes. Then we got a ride from some pokemon. Now he's lying in a cave, sweating like crazy and losing all color in his face."

They looked at each other. "What do you think it is?" Mewtwo asked Mew.

Mew shrugged. "Don't know. Could be a cold, the flue, hypothermia. I would have to see him to decide."

Mewtwo sighed. "Alright then, we will come see what we can do. What is your name?"

"Painter."

Mewtwo chuckled. "How appropriate. Now, where is that charizard you were riding?"

I looked out of the cave. Charizard was hovering a few feet away, looking for me. "Hey, Charizard!" I yelled. He looked in my direction and came flying over.

He quickly stepped in front of me and faced the two psychic pokemon. "You plan on attacking some more?"

Mewtwo smiled. "Well, isn't someone a touchy little dragon?" He leapt out of the cave and started to float away. "We do need you to guide us back to your friend. Hurry up."

I climbed onto Charizard, and he took off. Flying faster than normal, he took off towards the cave. He was probably trying to leave Mewtwo behind.

Mewtwo, seeing this, flew ahead when he saw which cave everyone was at. He landed, and was talking to flygon. When the rest of us arrived, he was already inside looking over Derek. Mew flew over and started to inspect him as well.

"It appears he's gotten water fever," Mew said. "Some fire pokemon, when they consume too much water, will have their body temperature lowered. Then their body tries to heat them back up, causing them to get a severe fever."

"Well that makes sense," Delilah said. She then, without warning, smacked me across the face. "So you just thought you would run off without telling anyone where you were going?"

I rubbed my cheek. "Well excuse me for finding two pokemon who could help."

Mew touched Derek's forehead. "That's quite the fever he's got." He turned to Delilah. "You can sing, right?" She nodded. "Can you play an instrument?"

She smiled, and pulled a harp out that had been hidden in her shirt on her back. It was shaped like Mew.

Zack also pulled out an instrument. It was a beautiful green violin. The bow was a bunch of different shades of greens.

Mew nodded. "Good. Now, do you all know the melody of healing?" They nodded. "Good. I shall use heal bell. You two just play and sing the song."

Delilah started to strum a soft tune on her harp. Zack started to play his violin as well. Blue sound waves radiated from Mew, merging perfectly with their tune.

I sat down next to Mewtwo. "Aren't you going to join in?"

He smiled sadly. "I haven't sung in a long time. I once knew this sweet little baby kangaskhan. He wished for me to sing him to sleep every night. Then, one day, he just vanished. I haven't sung since."

"Come on. You know you want to."

He shook his head. "No, I probably wouldn't sound that good anyway."

"Stop making excuses."

He sighed. "Alright, Alright." He listened to them play a bit longer, then started to sing. There was something special about it. You could almost feel the earth stop and listen. He was amazing.

Soon, Mew, Zack, and Delilah had joined in singing. They sounded great. I wished I could sing. I had never had much of a voice. Then I remembered a trick I had recently learned.

I took my tail and started to paint on the ground. I made five pools of paint, their colors red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I then changed the color of my tail to white. I started to drip paint into the pools, causing it to give out a ringing sound, not unlike Mew's heal bell. I knew enough about this song to give it a simple harmony.

The song seemed to be having some effect on Derek. His face was starting to gain some color again, and his breathing leveled out. We all finished the song, and his eyes opened.

"Where are we?" He asked, trying to sit up.

Delilah pushed him back down. "We are in a cave in the mountains. You got water fever, and we healed you. It would be wise for you not to do too much at the moment."

He looked at Mew and Mewtwo. "Why are you two here?"

"We were found by Painter and came to heal you. Now that you are better, we will be off." They went to the mouth of the cave. They gave one last wave, and flew off.

I yawned. "I think it would be a good idea to get some more sleep."

"That's a bad idea," Flygon said, entering the cave.

"Why's that?"

She pointed out of the cave. I could see a bunch of beams of light moving around the mountain. "Your creators are here to take you back to the lab."


	5. Chapter 5

"Everyone, get on a pokemon that can fly!" I yelled. We all ran to the four flyers and mounted up. The beams of light were getting closer. They were going to find us.

We took off from the cave, and a beam of light hit us immediately. I heard one of them scream orders, and all of them started to put up a chase.

"Charizard, they spotted us. Can you outfly them?"

He grinned at me. "Of course I can." He put on a burst of speed, and I almost slid off his back. He was able to put some distance between us and our capers, but not enough. They sped up as well, and were slowly gaining on us.

I looked down at the range of mountains, trying to spot something that could help us. All that there was to see was, well, mountains. The only chance we really had was to fight them on land, and you can't really do that on a mountain. Then I saw something.

"Charizard, we need to land in that clearing."

He nodded, and turned towards the ground. The others changed course as well. We all landed, dismounted, and turned, ready to fight.

The people from the lab flew in and landed as well.

And our two most favorite people on earth were leading them.

"Well, if it isn't delightful to see you again," Alice said, walking in front of Jared. "Alice was quite impressed with that plan to escape the lake. Alice can tell from your pale appearance that you just got over water fever."

Derek growled at her. She smiled. "Don't go getting angry at me. You were the one who jumped into the water."

Jared straightened his glasses. "Now, why don't you all choose to come quietly? It would be too much of a fuss to fight you."

We all stood our ground. Jared laughed. "Believe me; you don't want to choose the hard way." He reached into his lab coat, and pulled out a gun. Alice twisted her fan around, and a gun was in her hand, too.

Delilah was furious. "You want to use guns? That is completely unethical! Give us a fair fight!"

All of the men behind them pulled out guns as well. Jared laughed. "Well, we could, but like I said, what a bother that would be." He took aim at Delilah. "Let's start by silencing the talker first." He pulled the trigger.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. You heard the gun fire, but, just barely after that, you could distinguish another shot. There was a clank of metal. No bullet hit Delilah.

Jared looked at us in confusion. "What is this?"

More gunshots sounded, and Jared and Alice jumped back in alarm. We all looked around. Who was firing at them?

Two figures leaped of the mountains behind us. One had two guns in hand, while the other had its hands pressed against its ears.

The figure with the guns pointed them at Alice and Jared. "Hey, you two. Did you miss us? It's been quite a while." Its voice was distinctly female.

Both of them took a step back. I couldn't see the figure clearly. Why were they so scared?

"How on earth are you still alive?" Jared asked. "I distinctly remember shooting you in the side. It should have hit your rib, sending that into your lung. My aim was accurate."

"Yeah, well, I had been training hard. It wasn't that difficult to change the bullets course."

Alice was as red as a cherry. "Amanda, you vile witch! I thought I saw the last of you three years ago!"

The figure laughed. "Now, now, Amanda doesn't approve of Alice's anger," she said, mocking Alice's voice. "It is so rude. You'll hurt my feelings, and then my eyes will start watering, and I will have to change mascara." Alice reddened even more.

Jared pointed his gun at her. "Enough of this." He shot, and Amanda fired as well. It was impossible to see what happened, but no bullet hit anybody.

Turning around, the figure winked at us. I may have been wrong, but she looked like a gardevoir. "Don't worry. I got this." She turned back to the crowd facing us, and raised her guns. "Now, give it your best shot!"

They all opened fire, and Amanda fired back. Smoke started to gather in between them, but no bullet struck. Was it possible she was hitting there bullets with hers?

The other figure was now crouched on the ground, pressing his hands even harder onto his ears. They were not human ears, due to them being on top its head, but it was impossible to see what they looked like. He must not like the loud noises.

During the middle of this, Amanda's bullets started to glow pink. The bullet battle continued until everyone was out of ammo.

Jared sighed. "My, my, your aim has gotten much better over the years." He pulled another gun out of his lab coat. "I can tell using those psychic bullets really tired you out. No more deflecting for you."

I looked at her, and could tell Jared was right. She was covered in sweat and panting greatly. Those glowing bullets must have been made of psychic energy.

The crouched figure leapt behind us. He made what sounded like a squeak, and Amanda started walking backwards until she stood right in front of us. "Are you sure about this, John?"

The figure behind us nodded. She looked at him sadly. "Fine." A green shield surrounded us all but John, who was crouching just outside the force field. His hands moved away from his ears, and he pulled out earplugs he had been covering up.

Jared seemed not to notice. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. He pointed his gun at us. I thought he hadn't fired, but then I saw the bullets ricochet off the shield.

John's eyes widened, and his mouth opened into a scream of pain, one that none of us in the shield could hear. The people outside put their hands over their ears. Some even fell to the ground, unconscious.

John shut his mouth, and tears spilled out of his eyes. Amanda let down her force field, and ran over to him. She was close to tears as well. As quickly as she could, she put the earplugs back into his ears and moved his hands over them.

Jared removed his hands from his ears, and they were covered with blood. He mumbled something to the others, and the ones still able to move got back on their flyers and left without another word. Unfortunately, Alice was included in the ones leaving.

Amanda rubbed Johns back. "Why do you keep insisting on doing that?" He shook his head, and pressed harder on his ears.

She stood up. "Is everyone all right?" We all nodded. She started moving around the clearing. "Where did I put my lantern?" There was a sound of her falling, and a grunt of pain. "Found it."

With a small spark, the entire clearing lit up. A giant glowing glass ball attached to what looked like a small branchless tree was lying on the ground by Amanda. I could now get a good look at her.

She was, I believe, a gardevoir, but unlike any I had ever seen. Her head was that of an ordinary gardevoir, though there was a flower print bandana tied around her forehead. Where there should have been a white dress, there was a tan, fringed fest, a sleeveless flower print shirt, and flower print bellbottoms. If a gardevoir became a hippie, this was what it would look like.

"Welcome, fellow experiments," she said. "Shall I make some tea?"


	6. Chapter 6

"So you guys came from the lab as well?"

Amanda nodded as she handed tea she had made over a fire to everyone. In four minutes flat she had an entire kitchen set up around a blazing fire. Then she had another fire made for us all to sit around.

John, who had calmed down a bit, took his tea gingerly. He was the most bazaar thing I had ever seen. He was extremely thin. His body was covered with swirling blue and mauve tattoos. He wore a thin t-shirt and shorts. His face was small, and this was extremely noticeable due to his large blue eyes. His ears, which protruded from his thick brown hair, looked like large floppy zubat ears with those odd extensions from an audino's ears curled up inside it. His earplugs rested firmly inside them.

He took a sip from his tea. "You all are from the DNA section of the lab. I came from there, too. Amanda came from the questions and theories section."

Delilah looked at him, confused. "What does that section do?"

Amanda sat next to me. "It's where they come up with questions and theories and put them to the test. It all started with the simple question of what would happen if you used a dawn stone on a kirlia when it was evolving into a gardevoir, and now you have me."

I looked at John. "What about you?"

He set his tea down. "I'm a bit harder to explain. There's a section of the lab where they work on pokemon fusion. They fused a zubat, a whismur, and an audino together and got a pokemon that could hear the softest of sounds and break bones with its voice. It wasn't able to live due to being too sensitive to noise. So they took its DNA and put that into me, creating a less powerful creature, but one that is able to live."

"What was that you did when you took your earplugs out?" Derek asked.

"I do have the ability to scream loud enough to rupture your eardrum, but the only way for me to make that noise is to scream out of pain. The only way to get that much pain is to hear an extremely loud noise, such as gunfire."

Flygon looked discusted. "Why would you do something that harmful to yourself?"

"I may have sensitive ears, but they are unable to be ruptured. They tried to in the lab. I listened to a rocket that had been amplified, and they were still fine, though I did fall unconscious for twelve hours."

Amanda finished her tea and took it back to the kitchen. "So what about you all? I would love to know how you escaped the lab."

Derek explained it. "As John said, we're all from the DNA section. Painter and I are pokemon that were injected with human DNA, while Delilah and Zack are humans with pokemon DNA. We were locked in the training and torture area of the lab due to our rebellious attitudes. Then we got Painter to use sketch on a garchomp so he could learn draco meteor, broke down the security door, and jumped out a window into a lake. Painter shot us back to dry land, where we hiked through the woods, found the mountains, and met Charizard, Flygon, and the dragonite twins. I ended up getting water fever, but Painter found Mew and Mewtwo, who helped cure me. We were then chased by the lab people to this clearing, and you guys showed up."

Amanda smiled. "Nice. What was your plan after breaking out of the lab?"

We all looked at each other, then started to laugh. "We didn't come up with anything else," I said. "We were too preoccupied with escaping."

Amanda shook her head. "You're all rediculus." She threw a pan onto her first fire, and started going through bags, looking for ingredients. "You might as well start thinking. John and I are restricted on what we can do, but you guys aren't. What are you going to do?"

We all stopped laughing and went into deep thought. What should we do? We had only really thought of escaping. But to what end? Now they would just hunt us down. We had to do something about them.

"Amanda, do you know what their real goal is?" Delilah asked.

She nodded. "I do, but it would be unwise for me to tell you."

Derek looked irritated. "Why?"

She looked at him gravely. "Because if I told you, you might be scared enough to go back and join them."

A cold silence fell over the clearing. "Is it really that bad?" Delilah asked.

She nodded. "I questioned returning to them when I heard of their plans. If I wasn't concerned for John's safety, I think I probably would have gone back. Though I don't know if they have started yet. How many pokemorphs do they have working for them?"

"Fourteen, with six in training," Zack answered.

Her face paled, which was almost impossible for a gardevoir. "What? They have that many already? They just might start their plan in the next few days!"

John looked at her. "Is it time?"

She shook her head. "Not quite. This lot needs to make it to the village first."

We all looked at them in confusion. "Time for what?"

"In due time. First, we must get you to the village." She blinked and stared off into space for a moment, then blinked again and focus on us. "It's still a good while until daybreak. You all might as well get some sleep."

We all helped her put the dishes away. Reaching into one of her bags, she produced four sleeping bags for us and huge warm mats for the flyers.

I didn't lie down, though. "Do you have any paper or canvas?" I asked Amanda.

She reached into one of her bags and threw me a good sized canvas. "Will this do? I can get you an easel."

I shook my head. "No, that is fine." I pulled my tail out from behind me. I hadn't actually painted anything in a long time. I wonder if I could still do it.

"That's quite the talent you got there," Amanda said, seeing my artwork. "I didn't know that smeargles could change the color of their tales."

"Most can't," I replied, finishing up my five minute painting. "The odds of a smeargle getting this ability are about one and three billion."

John came over and looked at my painting. "Wow! This is amazing! How long did it take you to do?"

I set the canvas down and admired my work. It was just a simple painting of us all around the fire drinking tea. "About five minutes. You want to see the coolest part?" He nodded enthusiastically.

I picked up the canvas, and took it over near the fire. I held it up to the flames for a minute, just close enough for it to get hot, then brought it back to John. "What do you think?"

He smiled. "That's amazing!" He took the canvas, which now showed Amanda warding off the people from the lab. "How did you do it?"

"Smeargles can change the thickness of their paint at will. One person learned that the different thicknesses could be melted at different temperatures. Using this, he was able to create a completely different painting out of one he made. I could teach you how, if you'd like."

He looked at me. "How can you do that? I don't have a smeargle tail."

I chuckled. "You can buy smeargle paint in just about any paint store. If I could get some jars, I could give you some of my paint." I turned to Amanda, who was cleaning the dishes. "Hey, Amanda, do you have any jars with lids?"

"Not empty ones," she called back. "I can make some if you need them right now."

I laughed at her productiveness. "I'll just buy some in the town tomorrow." Turning back to John, I shrugged. "Looks like I'll start teaching you tomorrow. Why don't you get some sleep?" He nodded, and went and curled up in a sleeping bag.

Amanda came over and sat next to me. "You know, besides me, no one has ever really paid any interest in John. Once you change the picture, can you change it back?"

I nodded. "Yep, you just need to reheat it with it upside-down."

She nodded, and looked at my picture. "You are quite gifted. I wish I could paint. I've never been good with paint, though I can do this." She pointed at the sky, and I saw some of the many stars seem to shift. Once she was done, there was the picture of me in the stars.

"That's amazing!" I said with admiration. She smiled and put her hand down. The stars went back to normal. "How do you do it?"

"I bend the atmosphere, making some stars visible and others not. I can make pictures by showing different stars."

I nodded. "So, how are we getting to the town in these mountains?"

"Well, you strayed from the flyers path. We will have to go through the water way. It should be fine. I'm pretty close with the queen there."

"Queen? What queen?"

She smiled. "Sleep. You will see in the morning." I was about to protest, but she waved her hand in front of my face, and I was unconscious instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

"_This _is the waterway?" I asked Amanda, standing perfectly still.

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

Amanda, John, and the flyers were completely unconcerned, but Delilah, Zack, Derek and I were a little uneasy about all of the bug pokemon around us. There were too many to count. Derek and Delilah kept looking uneasily at Zack, who's face had lost all color.

Amanda frowned. "What's wrong?"

"I…don't…like…bugs," Zack said, barely moving his lips.

"Why?"

"Combee hive…bad…didn't mean to break it."

That was enough for Amanda. "Here," she said, taking off her bandana. "Put this over your eyes. None of the bugs will attack because you all are with me. Just wear this until we reach the village." He nodded, and wrapped the piece of cloth around his eyes. Amanda led us down to a very large raft. "Everyone on." We all climbed on, Delilah helping Zack. She untied us from the dock, and we started down the river.

"So when will we reach the village?" I asked.

"Oh, about an hour or so," Amanda said, lying down for a nap.

Zack, seeming bored from not getting to look at anything, pulled out his violin. He started to play a tune that was lively, then soft, then lively again. I could see pokemon gathering to listen.

After a while of this, the boat was attacked.

A large orange ball of energy flew at us, and missed barely. The splash rocked the boat, almost sending Amanda into the water. She stood up, angry that she had been awoken. "Who did that?"

"I did, you little liar!"

We all looked at a very angry vespiquen, who had many combee around her. This must have been the queen she had been talking about. Amanda scowled. "Um, liar? I haven't done anything to your forest."

"Your roserade friend's music has brought many flying pokemon here, who are attacking us."

"Well then I'll make them leave."

"It's too late for that! You betrayed our trust, now we will destroy you!"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "In your dreams." She held out her hand, and a large wave of water crashed over the queen. Then she summoned another, which pushed us quickly down the river.

Unfortunately for us, there were a lot more bug pokemon we had to deal with. Ledians, scythers, forretresses; just about every bug pokemon was here. Amanda had whipped out her guns and was firing psychic bullets. John was trying hard to block out all the noise, while Delilah and Derek kept them all away. The flyers were attacking as well, but weren't able to move due to their size.

I, knowing only draco meteor, wasn't very helpful right now since I would probably either destroy the boat or level the forest. I mostly would dodge the attacks and throw the smaller bugs away. This was going well until a certain scyther decided that I was the biggest threat.

It started swinging away, causing, me to back up to the edge of the boat. I had an idea, but it had to use a move. I was about to give up hope that my plan would work, but it then jumped back and let loose five circular blades at me. I dodged them all, then pointed my tail at them, the tip glowing white.

As the scyther was about to attack again, I threw my own blades of energy at it. It jumped away, surprised at my attack. This was unfortunate, because he jumped right into Derek's fire blast.

I now had the move air slash.

Amanda, getting tired from using her psychic energy, put her guns away. "Enough of this!" She held her hands out, and a green forcefield surrounded the boat. "They won't follow us into the village. This just needs to hold them off until then."

This plan, unfortunately, didn't last long. Five heracross slammed into the shield with their glowing horns. Feint. The barrier broke, and Amanda went down. As one of the heracross was flying by, it clipped Delilah's hair, cutting off a small fragment of it. She picked it up with shock.

Then screamed.

This was no ordinary scream. It was quite obvious Delilah had just learned a new move: hyper voice. We all covered our ears, but the bug pokemon were going crazy. I guess they were more sensitive to her yelling.

"Will you stop already?" Amanda yelled five minutes later. The bug pokemon had fled the scene.

Delilah closed her mouth. "I can't believe that overgrown cockroach! How dare he touch my hair!"

"You yell really loud," John said, rubbing his ears. We could tell it had taken all of his willpower not to scream as well.

"Too bad about your hair," Amanda said. "We're about to reach the village."

We came to a large valley where a pretty good sized town was. The river snaked alongside it, then deeper into the mountains. Amanda tied us to the docks, and we all got out. It was a good thing there were very few people out; otherwise we would cause quite the commotion.

Delilah led us to a large mansion, and we walked inside. "Molly, I'm home."

A familiar looking woman, now in a maid's uniform, walked down the stairs. "Good day, Mistress. I see you and John have arrived safely."

Derek, Zack, Delilah and I were speechless. That wavy blonde hair was so familiar. "You work at the lab," I said.

She laughed. "No, no, that is my twin. Marry is quite the thinker, but one could question her career choices."

"Yes, well I would love to chat," Amanda said, "but John and I really need to be going"

Molly Frowned. "So soon? I hardly ever get to see you."

"I'm sorry. Lucky for you, Derek, Zack, Delilah, and Jake will be staying here for a while. We should be back in a couple of days. Bye-bye now." They both walked quickly out the door, leaving us with the maid.

She clapped her hands together. "This is so exiting! Mistress Amanda never stays here for more than three hours, so this will be a new experience for all of us! Now why don't you four go explore a bit while I make some lunch. There's a garden out back with some pokemon in it and a bunch of interesting rooms." She skipped away, humming a happy tune.

"That woman is way too perky," Derek said. He walked up the stairs, Delilah and Zack following. I looked at the clear door that led to what looked like the garden. I wanted to go explore that.

I walked outside, and sure enough, there were quite a few pokemon. Most were shy and didn't come near, while others just stared. I didn't care. I just wanted a beautiful piece of scenery. That's one of the best muses ever.

I sat down on a bench. Looking around, I noticed a sound. Was that crying? I got back up and went over to a nearby bush. Inside it was a baby Sableye crying. He couldn't have hatched more than a week ago.

"What's wrong?"

"The bullies took my favorite gem!" He said, crying harder. "I had found it just yesterday, and they took it from me cause they said I'm creepy."

I gently picked him up. "That doesn't seem right, now does it? I think I'm creepier than you."

He blinked, which was a lot like light flashing across his gemlike eyes. "What are you?"

"I'm a pokemorph. I'm part human and part smeargle. Who were the bullies that took your gem?"

"It was the Lilligant Squad. It's a bunch of mean pokemon who think there better than everyone else. They never let me play with them."

"Well, why don't we go get your gem back?" We walked through the garden until I found what was believed to be the bullies. A lilligant, roselia, cinccino, and sunflora were all laughing together, the lilligant tossing what looked like a large fire gem in the air.

"Taking this from that freak was too easy," She said. "I hope the Mistress kicks him out."

"Exactly," I said. "You took it, so it isn't yours."

She stopped tossing the gem and turned to me. "Oh look, the freak show found a bigger freak show. How nice."

"Give me back my gem!" Sableye yelled.

She laughed. "And who's going to make me?"

"We will," I said, setting Sableye down. "Why don't we battle? A two on two match."

She looked at the roselia. "If they want to, let's not disappoint them."

We started setting up. "Wait, I can't battle!" Sableye whispered to me.

"It'll be fine. You'll do great." We faced the snobby grass types. "You may go first."

"Big mistake." Roselia leapt up and landed on Lilligant's head. "Double magical leaf!"

They both let loose a bunch of glowing leaves. I pushed Sableye out of the way and dodged as well, then sending some blades from air slash at them. They dodged as well.

"You can't beat us!" Lilligant yelled. Roselia nodded, and shot a glowing orb of energy into the sky. The sun got really bright. Sunny day. This couldn't be good.

Roselia hopped back onto Lillagant's head. They both started spinning, and a bunch of leaves started swirling around them. "Double leaf storm!"

The leaves flew at us, and I threw Sableye out of the way and took the hit myself. They were both really strong. I didn't have much energy once the leaves stopped coming. Lilligant smiled, Roselia hopping of her head. "Now, to finish you off." An orb of light was forming in her hands. She was going to use a sunny day charged solarbeam.

Sableye slid in front of me, staring down both of the grass pokemon. "I don't think so!"

She jumped, the sphere wavering and then vanishing. She scowled. "You're leer is pathetic."

I couldn't see his face, but his body seemed to slump in a defeated manner. I could hear him start to cry some more. Pink hearts flew from him and hit the grass pokemon, and they both blinked, seeming surprised and a little guilty. Captivate. Nice.

"Get them now," I whispered.

He instantly stopped crying and sprang on them, scratching away. They both screamed and ran away. Lilligant had dropped the fire gem, and Sableye sprang on it immediately, hugging it.

I dusted off my jeans. "So what's so special about that gem? It can't help you in battle."

"I know, but it's warm, like sunlight. Most Sableye like being left alone, but I like having friends. Sunlight is like a nice friend, always cheery, wanting you to have a good day."

I smiled. This kid was so sweet. I picked him up. "Well how would you say to me being your new friend and trainer?"

He smiled. "That sounds like fun!"

"Then we might as well go introduce you to the rest of the gang."


End file.
